Fu Li stood in the rain, his clothes completely soaked and his carefully styled hair drooping, looking quite disheveled.
He looked at the chameleon in front of him, forcing a smile: "Deputy Lu Xi, what do you mean by this?"
His mind was racing frantically.
When did Lu Xi return to the capital?
How had he not received any news about it?
And what about Lu Qi? Was he still alive? Had he returned to the capital too?
Lu Xi wiped the rainwater from his face with his paw, his round eyes rotating as he gazed at Fu Li: "Nothing much, just came to check on what Mr. Fu Li has been up to lately."
Fu Li edged his body outwards while replying: "Nothing special, just did a few business deals with Xiong Xiong. I've been so busy that I didn't even know when Deputy Lu had returned..."
The chameleon moved along the wall with him: "I heard Mr. Fu Li has been meeting quite a few people lately. I wonder if you know a male beast-man called Qiao You?"
Hearing this, Fu Li completely understood that he had been exposed. He transformed back into his beast form with a bang and quickly fled.
Qiao You, a male beast-man? He was clearly a vampire!
He hated Lu Xi's fake probing attitude the most.
The viper's body was covered with white and brown mixed markings, nearly twenty meters long, and moved extremely fast on the ground, darting out more than ten meters in the blink of an eye.
Lu Xi crawled forward slowly, seemingly unconcerned about his escape, and marveled at Fu Li's escape speed: "He runs so fast, truly deserving of the name 'Grass Flyer'..."
The chameleon didn't move quickly; Lu Xi played more of a supporting role in combat.
For example, using his beast form's color-changing ability to sneak up on enemies unnoticed and take them down in one strike.
Or using his long, extremely sticky tongue to help teammates slay enemies.
The viper moved swiftly, seemingly able to see the alley exit, his heart wild with joy.
This place wasn't far from the outskirts of the capital, with a few mountains nearby. If he could escape there, he'd be temporarily safe.
He could think of countermeasures later.
Suddenly, Fu Li felt a strong mental pressure. He instinctively twisted his body.
A tail thicker than his own slammed down with a "bang" on the spot he had just passed, cracking the cement road surface with its amazing force.
The fire snake's bright red wings flapped slowly behind him as he retracted his missed tail, coiling it beneath him, his enormous form exuding an intense pressure.
"Fu Li? Where else do you think you're going?"
The viper's movements slowed under the pressure of Lu Qi's powerful mental force.
Yet he still twisted his body, struggling on the ground, gnashing his teeth: "Lu! Qi!"
Wasn't Lu Qi supposed to be having mental power fluctuations, barely able to maintain rationality?
Why was he so clear-headed now, with no sign of sluggishness in his mental power use?
Lu Qi lazily watched as Lan Yuxiang injected a paralyzing agent into the viper's body: "Hmm? I'm here. Is there something?"
Without waiting for Fu Li to answer, he continued: "Weren't you looking for me? Here I am, right in front of you."
"You should thank me for this. Saved you the trouble of traveling all the way to the border region."
The viper frantically rolled his body, resisting Lan Yuxiang's actions, but was pinned down by the kingfisher's foot on his weak spot, who fiercely pecked his head: "Stay still! Do you think you can beat us?"
It was precisely because he couldn't win that he felt so bullied!
The paralyzing agent was taking effect, Fu Li's body gradually becoming rigid and immobile, though he could still speak.
Knowing his fate, he began to ceaselessly insult Lu Qi: "Lu Qi, you're nothing but a devil! No wonder you're the only fire snake left!"
"Ah yes, yes, yes, and your family is down to just you too."
"My father merely took a bit of your snake venom, how could that justify raiding my entire family!"
"Ah yes, yes, yes, stealing the gene samples from the lab and selling them to vampires, should we be grateful your father tripped halfway and we caught up to him?"
The viper, being carried by the kingfisher with his upper body sliding on the rain-soaked ground, was gasping for air in anger.
Lu Xi, who had transformed back to human form at some point, stood next to the kingfisher holding an umbrella, listening to Lu Qi and Fu Li's exchange of insults.
Actually, it wasn't really an exchange; it was Fu Li's one-sided cursing, with Lu Qi responding sarcastically, addressing every point.
Lu Xi quietly said to Lan Yuxiang: "Should we ask the lab to add a voice-loss effect to the paralyzing agent?"
"The General always chatters with prisoners, it's quite noisy."
The kingfisher, carrying such a large snake with apparent ease, rain droplets sliding off his gorgeous feathers: "The voice-loss effect isn't added to facilitate subsequent interrogation."
"Besides, we can't control the General's preferences."
Meanwhile, Fu Li was still cursing: "You won't get away with capturing me like this, Xiong Xiong won't let this slide!"
Xiong Xiong's jewelry and mineral business in Kashida was too entangled and complex in relationships; Fu Li thought that even Lu Qi couldn't easily bring down Xiong Xiong.
Mentioning this excited Lu Qi: "That brown bear was much more sensible than you, immediately spilling everything from start to finish."
"And he said it was all your idea to do this."
Fu Li: ...
"Do you know who the beast-man is that those brown bears use to send messages in secret?"
"..."
"It's a sloth beast-man, hahaha! By the Beast God, he actually found a sloth beast-man to be an informant!"
Lu Xi looked at the viper whose scales seemed about to burst open in anger, eyes bloodshot: "I'm worried the General might anger him to death, we still need to interrogate him later..."
As the General's deputy, Lu Xi was quite concerned about Lu Qi's mental state at times.
He used to be quite abnormal when his mental power was in disorder, though sarcastic, he didn't talk much, which wasn't a problem.
Now that his mental power purity had increased, the General's condition had improved a lot, no longer as depressed as before, but it seemed the General had become more talkative.
Truly worthy of being the snake raised by His Majesty, he had somewhat inherited his chatty attribute.
After throwing Fu Li into prison, Lu Qi checked the time and, finding it still early, thought of going to the palace to resolve the matter of the marriage arrangement.
The palace of Kashida, though called a palace, was actually a manor full of bamboo.
His Majesty didn't like extravagance; apart from the buildings for meetings and receiving guests being built more grandly, the other living quarters were quite simple.
The most effort was put into the garden, where the bamboo and flowers were extremely well-tended, creating a fresh and elegant landscape with changing scenery at every step.
However, Lu Qi didn't have much fondness for this garden.
As a child, he was treated like a small flying insect to play with by a feline beast-man here, and because the garden was so large, his cries for help went unanswered.
Every time Lu Qi passed by the garden, his steps were swift, never setting foot inside.
Reaching the outside of His Majesty's chambers, his secretary Xing Yuan was standing at the door.
Xing Yuan was a snake-eagle, always impeccably dressed in a suit, with shoulder-length hair tied in a low ponytail at the back of his head, and silver half-frame glasses on his face.
He wore a flawless, elegant smile, and his actions, words, and manners were beyond reproach.
As far back as Lu Qi could remember, Uncle Yuan had been His Majesty's secretary, a capable assistant.
Though they were superior and subordinate, their relationship was comparable to brothers.
In the past, when Lu Qi was mischievous, His Majesty often left him in Uncle Yuan's care, which is why Lu Qi is still a bit afraid of Xing Yuan.
Lu Qi put aside his casual and relaxed demeanor from outside, respectfully greeting Xing Yuan: "Good evening, Uncle Yuan."
"Is His Majesty busy?"
Xing Yuan adjusted his glasses with his finger, looking Lu Qi up and down.
Seeing that he was uninjured and in good condition, he let out a light sigh and smiled, saying: "Good evening. Go on in, His Majesty is probably reading."
Xing Yuan also treated Lu Qi as his half-child, and had been very worried when he heard about his mental power going out of control.
Lu Qi nodded and pushed open the door to enter.
The spacious chamber was divided into two areas, one for work and one for rest and sleep.
At this moment, there was no one on the bed covered with bamboo leaves, and Lu Qi familiarly walked towards the other side.
A large, round figure was sitting in a chair with its back to Lu Qi. The fur on its limbs and head was pure black, while its back and head were white.
The distinctive black and white coloration clearly belonged to a giant panda.
As he got closer, he could hear the panda muttering: "Three here... change the position here, oh, how come one is missing..."
At the same time, excited mechanical voices rang out: "Perfect!" "Awesome!" "You're a genius!"
Lu Qi: ......
Whose emperor is obsessed with playing a match-3 game late at night?!
He stopped in front of the desk and cleared his throat lightly.
The panda's silhouette immediately froze. He slowly turned his head, and upon realizing it was Lu Qi behind him, let out a huge sigh of relief.
He excitedly jumped off the chair, picked up a piece of bamboo from the desk and threw it at Lu Qi, speaking in a gruff middle-aged man's voice: "You scared me to death, you rascal!"
"I thought you were your Uncle Yuan!"
Hurray! Wednesday is over! Can the weekend be far behind?! (shouting hoarsely)
Everyone, good job working hard!